Deployment: Living in the Bardo

Outside my office window, Mt Discovery 

What is it like being deployed far away from home for an extended period?    This is difficult to answer, as I have been on three major deployments overseas in my military career, (Panama, The Middle East and now Antarctica) and each of them have been / are, so very different. 

But one does not have to be in the military to experience deployment.  Most of the people here are civilians, and are deployed here  for the entire 6 month Antarctic spring and summer season.  Some, year after year!

One gentleman told me, the first year they come for the adventure.  The second year, the money, the third and years after that, because they no longer fit in with regular society.

I can appreciate that!!   Face it, it is not normal, or regular life being deployed.

Oh it may seem glamorous traveling the world and seeing new places, and yes, it is exciting.  But it is very hard too.

It is hard to leave one’s home, your loved ones, your pets, the comforts of home, your favorite foods, your LIFE.

Yes, you do miss home.  Pangs of it hit from time to time. 

Time, or perception of time too, is different when you are way.  It moves slowly, and at times fast. 

For those of you familiar with Tibetan Buddhism, then you are familiar with the bardo.

The bardo is a transitional state, life in the "in between" the period after death and before rebirth.   

Being deployed is like living in the bardo.

It is the land of the in between.

You left your regular life behind, you are here...living, working, working very hard and long hours.....learning, growing, meeting new people, seeing things you have never seen before and will probably never see again after you leave....it forever changes you.  You wait, and wait, and wait, until you can come home.

But when you get home, it is always different, because now you have been changed by the experience. 

Living in the bardo changes you.